Title: Rare alleles of the HRAS polymorphism do not modify the risk of breast or ovarian cancer in BRCA1 carriers

Abstract

The presence of one of the rare alleles of a minisatellite polymorphism at the HRAS locus on chromosome 11p15 has been associated with a roughly two-fold increase in the risk of breast cancer. The BRCA1 gene on chromosome 17q12-21 is responsible for the majority of the families with the breast-ovarian cancer syndrome. It is estimated that 87% of BRCA1 carriers will be affected with breast cancer by age 70. The relative risk for premenopausal breast cancer in carriers, compared to non-carriers, is roughly 100. Because of the wide range in ages of onset of cancer among BRCA1 carriers, it is likely that additional factors modify the risk of cancer. The role of other modifying genetic loci has not been studied. Through haplotype analysis we have identified 199 female BRCA1 carriers above the age of 20 years in 25 linked families. 127 of these women have been diagnosed with cancer and 72 are currently healthy. DNA was available on 59 carriers. Each sample was typed for the HRAS polymorphism by PCR, using primers flanking the minisatellite. Rare alleles were identified in 18 carriers. The penetrance of the BRCA1 gene was not higher among those women who carried a rare HRAS allelemore » (mean age of onset 49 years) than among those who carried two common alleles (mean age of onset 43 years) (p= 0.59; log rank test). Similar results were obtained for ovarian cancer. These data do not support the hypothesis that the HRAS locus modified the risk of cancer among carriers of mutations in BRCA1.« less

@article{osti_133558,
title = {Rare alleles of the HRAS polymorphism do not modify the risk of breast or ovarian cancer in BRCA1 carriers},
author = {Phelan, C. and Tonin, P. and Lynch, H.T.},
abstractNote = {The presence of one of the rare alleles of a minisatellite polymorphism at the HRAS locus on chromosome 11p15 has been associated with a roughly two-fold increase in the risk of breast cancer. The BRCA1 gene on chromosome 17q12-21 is responsible for the majority of the families with the breast-ovarian cancer syndrome. It is estimated that 87% of BRCA1 carriers will be affected with breast cancer by age 70. The relative risk for premenopausal breast cancer in carriers, compared to non-carriers, is roughly 100. Because of the wide range in ages of onset of cancer among BRCA1 carriers, it is likely that additional factors modify the risk of cancer. The role of other modifying genetic loci has not been studied. Through haplotype analysis we have identified 199 female BRCA1 carriers above the age of 20 years in 25 linked families. 127 of these women have been diagnosed with cancer and 72 are currently healthy. DNA was available on 59 carriers. Each sample was typed for the HRAS polymorphism by PCR, using primers flanking the minisatellite. Rare alleles were identified in 18 carriers. The penetrance of the BRCA1 gene was not higher among those women who carried a rare HRAS allele (mean age of onset 49 years) than among those who carried two common alleles (mean age of onset 43 years) (p= 0.59; log rank test). Similar results were obtained for ovarian cancer. These data do not support the hypothesis that the HRAS locus modified the risk of cancer among carriers of mutations in BRCA1.},
doi = {},
journal = {American Journal of Human Genetics},
number = Suppl.3,
volume = 55,
place = {United States},
year = 1994,
month = 9
}

The highly polymorphic HRAS1 minisatellite locus just downstream from the proto-oncogene H-ras-1 on chromosome 11p consists of four common progenitor alleles and several dozen rare alleles, which apparently derive from mutations of the progenitors. Mutant alleles of this locus represent a major risk factor for common types of cancer. Rare-sized HRAS1 alleles have been found more frequently in patients with carcinoma of the breast, colorectum, and urinary bladder and acute leukemia, compared to cancer-free controls. This highly significant association (p<1.001) results in a modest relative risk for patients with one rare allele, but the prevalence of this class of mutantmore » alleles implies an important attributable risk: 1 in 11 cancers of the breast, colorectum, and bladder. Therefore, we performed a case-control study using conventional (Southern blot) and PCR-based methods to score HRAS1 alleles in the leukocyte DNA from 59 patients with ovarian cancer, and 51 cancer-free controls. Our preliminary data suggest an increased incidence of rare and intermediate HRAS1 alleles in caucasian ovarian cancer patients (13%) compared to cancer-free controls (4%). These results parallel the allele distribution seen in the large published series, and lend support for a significant association between rare HRAS1 alleles and ovarian cancer predisposition.« less

We investigate the familial risks of cancers of the breast and ovary, using data pooled from three population-based case-control studies of ovarian cancer that were conducted in the United States. We base estimates of the frequency of mutations of BRCA1 (and possibly other genes) on the reported occurrence of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in the mothers and sisters of 922 women with incident ovarian cancer (cases) and in 922 women with no history of ovarian cancer (controls). Segregation analysis and goodness-of-fit testing of genetic models suggest that rare mutations (frequency .0014; 95% confidence interval .0002-.011) account for all themore » observed aggregation of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in these families. The estimated risk of breast cancer by age 80 years is 73.5% in mutation carriers and 6.8% in noncarriers. The corresponding estimates for ovarian cancer are 27.8% in carriers and 1.8% in noncarriers. For cancer risk in carriers, these estimates are lower than those obtained from families selected for high cancer prevalence. The estimated proportion of all U.S. cancer diagnoses, by age 80 years, that are due to germ-line BRCA1 mutations is 3.0% for breast cancer and 4.4% for ovarian cancer. Aggregation of breast cancer and ovarian cancer was less evident in the families of 169 cases with borderline ovarian cancers than in the families of cases with invasive cancers. Familial aggregation did not differ by the ethnicity of the probands, although the number of non-White and Hispanic cases (N = 99) was sparse. 14 refs., 3 figs., 6 tabs.« less

Genetic epidemiological evidence suggests that mutations in BRCA1 may be responsible for approximately one half of early onset familial breast cancer and the majority of familial breast/ovarian cancer. The recent cloning of BRCA1 allows for the direct detection of mutations, but the feasibility of presymptomatic screening for cancer susceptibility is unknown. We analyzed genomic DNA from one affected individual from each of 24 families with at least three cases of ovarian or breast cancer, using SSCP assays. Variant SSCP bands were subcloned and sequenced. Allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization was used to verify sequence changes and to screen DNA from control individuals.more » Six frameshift and two missense mutations were detected in 10 different families. A frameshift mutation was detected in a male proband affected with both breast and prostate cancer. A 40-bp deletion was detected in a patient who developed intra-abdominal carcinomatosis 1 year after prophylactic oophorectomy. Mutations were detected throughout the gene, and only one was detected in more than a single family. These results provide further evidence that inherited breast and ovarian cancer can occur as a consequence of a wide array of BRCA1 mutations. These results suggests that development of a screening test for BRCA1 mutations will be technically challenging. The finding of a mutation in a family with male breast cancer, not previously thought to be related to BRCA1, also illustrates the potential difficulties of genetic counseling for individuals known to carry mutations. 37 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.« less

The mutations 185delAG, 188del11, and 5382insC in the BRCA1 gene and 6174delT in the BRCA2 gene were analyzed in 199 Ashkenazi and 44 non-Ashkenazi Jewish unrelated patients with breast and/or ovarian cancer. Of the Jewish Ashkenazi women with ovarian cancer, 62% (13/21) had one of the target mutations, as did 30% (13/43) of women with breast cancer alone diagnosed before the age 40 years and 10% (15/141) of those with breast cancer diagnosed after the age 40 years. Age at ovarian cancer diagnosis was not associated with carrier status. Of 99 Ashkenazi patients with no family history of breast and/ormore » ovarian cancer, 10% carried one of the mutations; in two of them the mutation was proved to be paternally transmitted. One non-Ashkenazi Jewish ovarian cancer patient from Iraq carried the 185delAG mutation. Individual mutation frequencies among breast cancer Ashkenazi patients were 6.7% for 185delAG, 2.2% for 5382insC, and 4.5% for 6174delT, among ovarian cancer patients; 185delAG and 6174delT were about equally common (33% and 29%, respectively), but no ovarian cancer patient carried the 5382insC. More mutations responsible for inherited breast and ovarian cancer probably remain to be found in this population, since 79% of high-incidence breast cancer families and 35% of high-incidence breast/ovarian cancer families had none of the three known founder mutations. 25 refs., 3 figs., 6 tabs.« less

In order to pinpoint the locale of the gene for early-onset familial breast and ovarian cancer (BRCA1), polymorphisms were developed within the locus for thyroid hormone receptor alpha (THRA1) and for several anonymous sequences at chromosome 17q12-q21. The THRA1 polymorphism is a dinucleotide repeat with 10 alleles and heterozygosity .79. Gene mapping in extended families with inherited, early-onset breast and ovarian cancer indicates that BRCA1 is distal to THRA1 and proximal to D17S183 (SCG43), an interval of <4 cM. This locale excludes HER2, THRA1, WNT3, HOX2, NGFR, PHB, COLIA1, NME1, and NME2 as candidates for BRCA1 but does not excludemore » RARA or EDH17B. Resolving the remaining recombination events in these families by new polymorphisms in the THRA1-D17S183 interval will facilitate positional cloning of the breast-ovarian cancer gene on chromosome 17q12-q21. 16 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.« less